Houston and Galveston
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Houston and Galveston - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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21. Kemah Boardwalk
OK, we'll cut to the chase—the Kemah Boardwalk is a commercial, touristy development run by Landry's Restaurants (the folks who brought you Joe's Crab Shack and Saltgrass Steakhouse)—but most people love it. Just off I–45 between Houston and Galveston, this cluster of moderately priced restaurants, amusement-park rides, game arcades, and inns is set on a bustling ship channel. It's a family-oriented destination where you can catch a Gulf breeze, eat seafood, shop, or just watch the ships sail by. Kids can get up close to some of nature's most misunderstood creatures at Stingray Reef—they can even feed them. A 96-foot-tall wooden coaster called the Boardwalk Bullet was recently added to the mix. It reaches speeds of 51 mph—only five feet from the water's edge. Don't eat first!
View Tours and Activities215 Kipp Ave., Kemah, Texas, 77565, USA877-285--3624Sight Details
Rate Includes: $24.99 -
22. Minute Maid Park
DowntownThe Houston Astros play in this modern-but-retro baseball stadium, which has a retractable roof and a monster a/c system to defy Houston's frequently changing weather. Upper-deck seats on the first base side have great views of the downtown skyline—even when the roof is closed, due to a very cool retractable glass wall. The stadium incorporates Houston's 1911 Union Station (designed by Warren and Wetmore of New York's Grand Central Station fame), which houses the ball club offices, retail stores, and eateries. Heavy hitters can rent out Union Station's rooftop, which has views into the stadium from above.
501 Crawford St., Houston, Texas, 77002, USA713-259--8000Sight Details
Rate Includes: $7 -
23. Moody Gardens
Moody Gardens is a multifaceted entertainment and educational complex inside pastel-color glass pyramids. Attractions include the 13-story Discovery Pyramid, showcasing marine life from four oceans in tanks and touch pools; Rainforest Pyramid, a 40,000-square-foot tropical habitat for exotic flora and fauna; Discovery Pyramid, a joint venture with NASA featuring more than 40 interactive exhibits; and two theaters, one of which has a space adventure ride. Outside, Palm Beach has white-sand beach, landscaped grounds, man-made lagoons, a kid-size waterslide and games, and beach chairs. Attraction admissions can be purchased individually, or there are also combo tickets and a daypass.
View Tours and Activities1 Hope Blvd., Galveston, Texas, 77554, USA800-582--4673Sight Details
Rate Includes: Individual attraction admissions from $12; combo tickets from $28; daypasses from $65 -
24. Moody Mansion
Moody Mansion, the residence of generations of one of Texas's most powerful families, was completed in 1895. Tour its interiors of exotic woods and gilded trim, filled with family heirlooms and personal effects.
2618 Broadway, Galveston, Texas, 77550, USA409-762--7668Sight Details
Rate Includes: Self-guided tour $15; guided tour $35 -
25. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Museum DistrictRemarkable for the completeness of its enormous collection, the MFAH is housed in a complicated series of wings and galleries, many designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. When the Audrey Jones Beck Building, the work of famed Spanish architect Rafael Maneo, it doubled the museum's size. Renaissance and 18th-century art is particularly well represented, and there's a fine selection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist works. You'll also find an ample survey of Asian, Pre-Columbian, Oceanic, and African art, and an impressive collection of modernist paintings, prints, and sculpture. The Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden displays 19th- and 20th-century sculptures by Rodin, Matisse, Giacometti, and Stella in an outdoor space designed by Isamu Noguchi.
1001 Bissonnet St., Houston, Texas, 77005, USA713-639--7300Sight Details
Rate Includes: $25, Tues. and Wed. 10–5, Thurs. 10–9, Fri. and Sat. 10–7, Sun. 12:15–7, Closed Mon. -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
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26. Orange Show monument
The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art's two installations—celebrating the work of individuals with extraordinary imaginations—are definitely two of Houston's strangest (and coolest) attractions. The Orange Show monument, located near the University of Houston at 2401 Munger St., is a handmade architectural spectacle constructed by late postman Jefferson Davis McKissack from 1956 to 1979. The outdoor 3,000-square-foot installation, which celebrates the artist's favorite fruit, includes a wishing well, a pond, a stage, a museum and a gift shop; McKissack built it with concrete, brick, found objects, wagon wheels, and statues. The Orange Show Center's other sight is the Beer Can House at 222 Malone St., near Memorial Park. The house—completely covered and decorated with aluminum beer-can "siding," and garlands of cut beer cans hanging from the roof edges—represents the meticulous beer chugging and recycling work of the late John Milkovisch; more than 50,000 cans were used.
2401 Munger St., Houston, Texas, 77023, USA713-926--6368Sight Details
Rate Includes: $5, Office and library daily 9–5:30; Orange Show late Mar.–Memorial Day, Sat. and Sun. noon–5; Memorial Day–mid-Aug. Wed.–Fri 9–1, Sat. and Sun. noon–1; Labor Day–Mid Dec., Sat. and Sun. noon–5; Beer Can House Sat. and Sun noon–5, Closed Jan. and Feb. -
27. Rice University
Museum DistrictAcross the street from Hermann Park is top-ranked Rice University, where 3,000 undergraduates from all over the country (and the world) live in an Oxford-inspired Residential College System. The campus is filled with live oaks, Mediterranean-style architecture, and some extremely hefty squirrels. It's a quiet place to escape from the city, and there are many wonderful places to picnic. Rice also houses the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, named for George H. W. Bush's secretary of state. The Rice Owls play football at Rice Stadium, where in 1962 President John F. Kennedy gave his famous "Moon Speech," in which he reaffirmed his earlier call to Congress and the nation that the United States would put a man on the moon in that decade. The 3-mi-long gravel path rings the campus; it's a popular place to walk or jog; massive trees shade most of the route.
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28. River Oaks Shopping Center
When you're done gawking, head to the neighborhood's top spot, Houston's first, to grab a coffee or some lunch, catch a movie, or pick up a new outfit.
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29. Rothko Chapel
Museum DistrictAdjacent to the lawns surrounding the Menil complex, this moody octagonal sanctuary designed by Philip Johnson houses 14 Mark Rothko paintings. Outside the ecumenical chapel is Barnett Newman's sculpture Broken Obelisk, symbolizing the life and death of Martin Luther King, Jr.
1409 Sul Ross St., Houston, Texas, 77006, USA713-524-9839Sight Details
Rate Includes: Closed weekends -
30. San Jacinto Museum of History
Alfred Finn, a Houston architect, designed this 570-foot-tall monument, which rises over the site (in nearby La Porte) where Sam Houston triumphed over General Antonio López de Santa Anna in the final battle of the Texas Revolution of 1836. The cenotaph, built between 1936 and 1939, is made of concrete and 100-million-year-old Cordova shellstone quarried north of Austin. At its top rests a nine-point, 35-foot-tall star weighing 220 tons. The park also includes the San Jacinto Museum of History; The Jesse H. Jones Theater for Texas Studies, which shows a movie about the battle called Texas Forever!; the Battleship Texas; and the Albert and Ethel Herzstein Library, covering Texas history.
One Monument Circle, La Porte, Texas, 77571, USA281-479--2421Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
31. Schlitterbahn Water Park
The entire family will have a fun time at this water park, located on the bay side of the island. Schlitterbahn features speed slides, lazy river rides, uphill water coasters, a wave pool (with surfing), and water playgrounds for the little ones. There's even a heated indoor water park for chilly winter months. During summer, less expensive afternoon-only rates are in effect, and ticket prices drop in the off-season. Closing times vary by the season, so outside of the busiest months of June through August, verify closing times on the park's website, or call for exact hours.
2026 Lockheed St., Galveston, Texas, 77554, USA409-770–9283Sight Details
Rate Includes: $52.99 (online discount) -
32. Seawall
The Seawall on the gulfside waterfront attracts runners, cyclists, and rollerbladers. Just below it is a long, free beach near many big hotels and resorts.
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33. Stewart Beach Park
Stewart Beach Park has a bathhouse, amusement park, bumper boats, miniature-golf course, and a water coaster in addition to saltwater and sand. It's open weekdays 9 to 5, weekends 8 to 6, from March through May; weekdays 8 to 6 and weekends 8 to 7, from June through September; and weekends 9 to 5 during the first two weekends of October.
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34. Texas Medical Center
Museum DistrictThe world's largest medical center is just a few blocks south of the Museum District. As you drive down Main Street, the soaring glass towers and sprawling campuses of the 1,000-acre complex begin to take shape. About 5.5 million patients are treated in the center each year, and its 46 member institutions include two medical schools, 13 renowned hospitals, 4 nursing schools, and schools of dentistry, public health, and pharmacy.
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35. Texas Seaport Museum
Aboard the restored 1877 tall ship Elissa, detailed interpretive signs provide information about the shipping trade in the 1800s, including the routes and cargoes this ship carried into Galveston. Inside the museum building is a replica of the historic wharf and a one-of-a-kind computer database containing the names of more than 133,000 immigrants who entered the United States through Galveston after 1837.
2200 Harborside Dr., Galveston, Texas, 77550, USA409-763–1877Sight Details
Rate Includes: $16, Closed Mon. -
36. The Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park
DowntownHouston's first and oldest municipal park contains nine historic structures and a museum gallery. The Kellum-Noble House is Houston's oldest standing brick structure still on its original foundation. If you're visiting around the holidays, try to catch the annual Candlelight Tour in the Park, when costumed actors give tours of the park's homes.
1100 Bagby St., Houston, Texas, 77002, USA713-655--1912Sight Details
Rate Includes: Closed Sun. and Mon. -
37. Toyota Center
DowntownThe National Basketball Association's Houston Rockets, the WNBA's Comets, and the American Hockey League's Houston Aeros play in this downtown arena. Concerts and other events are also held here.
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38. Tranquility Park
DowntownThis cool oasis of fountains and walkways was built to commemorate the first landing on the moon by the Apollo 11 mission. The terrain of mounds and depressions throughout the two-block park evokes the cratered surface of the moon, and the fountain's stainless steel cylinders are designed to resemble rocket boosters.
400 Rusk St., Houston, Texas, 77002, USA832-395--7000
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